The autumn holidays were noticeable at Zurich Airport. In October, for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, more than 1.6 million travelers per month flew through Zurich Airport. On individual peak days, the same number of passengers were counted as on the peak days during the summer holidays.

In October, the number of local passengers was 1’263’788. Transfer passengers amounted to 21.4%, equal to 344’070 passengers.

Year on year, air traffic movements increased by 98.1% to 16’717 take offs or landings. The monthly comparison shows that air traffic movements are at 69.5% of 2019 level. The average passenger per movement figure increased to 126.4 (+61.2% vs. previous year). The average seat load factor was at 74.6% (+28.3 percentage points vs. previous year).

A total of 39’132 tons of freight were transported at Zurich Airport during the month of October. This led to an increase in freight volume of 51.3% compared to last year. Compared to October 2019, freight volume increased by 1.3%.

Outlook & winter timetable

With the easing of travel restrictions – especially in Europe and North America – and the ongoing positive trend in global travel, Zurich Airport now expects to handle around 10 million passengers in 2021. This represents around one third of 2019 volumes.

The winter timetable sees the same number of destinations being served from Zurich as before the pandemic. A total of 145 destinations with 43 airlines are planned. This means that 80% of the airlines that flew to Zurich Airport before the pandemic are back. An overview of all destinations can be found on the website.